Polish court upholds landmark ruling for clergy sex abuse

A Polish appeal court on Tuesday upheld a verdict ordering a Catholic priests' society to pay out record damages to a former child victim of a paedophile priest.

The ruling is the first of its kind in the heavily Catholic country where the church still wields considerable influence and where relatively few cases of child sex abuse by clergy have come to light.

The court in Poznan, western Poland, ordered the brotherhood of the priest, identified only as Roman B for legal reasons, to pay 1,000,000 zloty (233,000 euros, USD 272,000) to the female victim who is now 24 years old. The amount is the highest ever court-ordered compensation to be paid by a religious institution in Poland.

The court also ordered the brotherhood, identified as The Society for Christ Fathers for Poles Living Abroad (SChr) based in Poznan, to pay the victim an 800-zloty lifetime monthly pension.

The brotherhood had appealed against an earlier court verdict ordering the payment arguing that it could not be held ..